In the Spring issue of Midwest Meetings, as well as online, we published an article about ProjectSpeaker, Inc which is a company that works to reduce and eliminate the stress planners experience when searching for a speaker for an event.As a result, ProjectSpeaker, Inc. received a number of new signups because of the article. To read the article please see below and checkout the Spring issue of Midwest Meetings.If you are in need of a great speaker for your next event, please check out ProjectSpeaker, Inc. at www.projectspeaker.com.

Armed with his personal experience as a meeting planner and speaker, Pierre Bisaillon CEO of ProjectSpeaker, Inc. decided to take on the challenge to reduce and eliminate some of the stress planners experienced. He began speaking with planners, asking questions about what their biggest pain points were and 100% of them said the hardest and most time consuming task was finding a great speaker for their events, not to mention it gave them the most stress. Meeting planners are always managing dozens of details, from audiovisual equipment to making sure the temperature in the room is perfect, but one of the most difficult that planners cite is the ability to find the perfect speaker.

Logistically, finding locations and service partners are also much less stressful than finding a speaker. For example, once you choose a hotel, you have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to get in terms of guestrooms, meeting space, catering, etc. With a speaker, you don’t have that same luxury and even after seeing a video or reading a few testimonials, the stress remains. Horror stories include speakers showing up intoxicated, using inappropriate language or generally being a bust. Meanwhile the planner sinks into the corner under the glare of their CEO. With ProjectSpeaker, Inc. Bisaillon has created a platform to save planners time, resources and some of their stress and worry. Headquartered in Canada, their current user base to date is approximately 75% US-based. It is an online source for planners to find the perfect speaker. They can log on to the website to create their events, shortlists and search the database for speakers. There is also a place for planners to share experiences with one another and communicate back and forth. The idea is to establish speaker reviews that are similar to product reviews available online for products.

Planners can feel confident that they will get value, reduce their worry and not have to go to the ends of the earth to try to make sure that this is going to add value to their conference since their colleagues have shared experiences. “The speaking industry hasn’t changed in 80 years, speakers come from all walks of life, corporate, life experiences, and while most are great at sharing messages, they are less skilled in marketing themselves, hence, speaker bureaus were established. There are almost 400 in North America and have pretty much controlled the industry since 1938. Most of the agencies keep a percentage of sales from the speaker. Planners and speakers are left to use speaker bureaus, but only because alternatives are too time consuming. Sometimes there are politics involved. Speakers that are exclusive to bureaus get pitched first and it’s not until they’ve exhausted these options that the bureaus present their next level of speakers. Ultimately this isn’t beneficial for the planner,” said Bisaillon. In reality, the best scenario is to present all of the speakers that seem to fit planners needs and then let them choose from these options, but since that doesn’t happen, Bisaillon created something that would be a better alternative. The program is entirely free for speakers and planners. This allows ProjectSpeaker, Inc. to be very selective in which speakers are allowed to join. Currently they have 200 speakers in their database (and an additional 400 pending), all of whom have undergone a thorough review process by the ProjectSpeaker, Inc. team.

In an effort to further encourage the speakers to develop a thorough profile and resume, ProjectSpeaker, Inc. created a merit point system. When a speaker comes in and creates a profile, each profile element is assigned a certain number of points. As they complete it they gain points for each element they included, for example, each book, video or testimonial. If a planner does a topic search on “leadership,” the results will be the speakers with the most merit points at the top. There is also a built-in messaging system where planners can initiate conversations with speakers but not vice versa so the planners will not be inundated with sales messages.

How can they offer this for free? The next plan is the completion of an RFP engine, when a planner builds an event, Project Speaker, Inc. can send out their RFP to hotels, caterers and other vendors needed. This will allow a stream of revenue for ProjectSpeaker, Inc. who will then get a commission from any vendors the planner selects.

At the end of the day planners need help on the legwork to find high-quality speakers to elevate their events, and this new platform has developed a system to do just that.